In short-range wireless communications, a 60 GHz millimeter-wave technology shows great potentiality as spectrum resources are in shortage nowadays. A 60 GHz millimeter wave has advantages of wide bandwidth, high flexibility, high rate up to gigabit level, and short wavelength that facilitates system package miniaturization. At present, the technology is mostly applied to indoor high-definition data stream transfer, gigabit networks, and the like.
When two networks use a same frequency band to perform respective communication, carriers of an unwanted signal and a wanted signal that are received by a user are the same. When an interfering signal is relatively strong, normal communication is affected. Such a phenomenon is referred to as co-channel interference. Bandwidth division at 60 GHz is very limited at present (generally only four channels can be used). When there are many networks, a frequency multiplexing technology needs to be used, which is accompanied by the occurrence of the co-channel interference problem.
The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11ad standard proposes a clustering mechanism to improve spatial multiplexing and reduce interference. There are two types of clustering mechanisms: centralized and distributed. Each cluster includes a synchronization PBSS control point (Personal Basic Service Set Control Point, PCP) or a synchronization access point (AP), and several member PCPs or APs. Each member PCP or AP in a cluster knows timeslot division of another member PCP or AP, and can schedule its own timeslot so as not to overlap a timeslot of a network on which the another member PCP or AP is located.
The clustering mechanism of the IEEE 802.11ad standard does not provide a scheduling algorithm for scheduling a timeslot on networks with co-channel interference, and a PCP or an AP on each network cannot avoid causing interference to a link of another network.